{
  "title": "Energy Leverage per Person",
  "description": "How much total energy does an average human command per year, compared to the metabolic baseline?",
  "metabolic_baseline": {
    "value_GJ_per_year": 3.6,
    "value_watts": 114.08,
    "description": "Approximate human food energy (metabolic baseline)",
    "source": "Smil (2017), Energy and Civilization"
  },
  "units": {
    "energy_total_GJ_per_person_year": "GJ/person/year",
    "energy_external_GJ_per_person_year": "GJ/person/year (total minus metabolic)",
    "multiple_vs_metabolic": "E_total / E_metabolic (dimensionless)",
    "watts_per_person": "W (continuous power equivalent)",
    "watts_external": "W (external energy only)"
  },
  "conversion": {
    "formula": "W = (GJ * 1e9) / (365.25 * 24 * 3600)",
    "seconds_per_year": 31557600
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Nature synthesis paper",
      "description": "Per-capita energy anchors across Holocene intervals (6.2, 7.1, 8.3, 18.4, 27.2, 61 GJ/person/year)",
      "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-53917-0"
    },
    {
      "name": "Smil (2017)",
      "description": "Metabolic baseline (~3.6 GJ/person/year) from Energy and Civilization",
      "url": "https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262035774/energy-and-civilization/"
    }
  ],
  "era_markers": [
    {"year": -10000, "label": "Agriculture", "description": "Neolithic Revolution"},
    {"year": -3200, "label": "Writing/States", "description": "Early states and writing systems"},
    {"year": 1750, "label": "Coal/Steam", "description": "Industrial Revolution begins"},
    {"year": 1950, "label": "Acceleration", "description": "Post-1950 energy surge"}
  ],
  "created": "2026-01-31",
  "author": "mschwar"
}